Fort Worth diocese takes initial step toward separation

Published: Sunday, November 18, 2007

MATT CURRYASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS - The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth gave preliminary approval Saturday to constitutional amendments that will lead to withdrawal from the national church in an increasingly contentious battle over homosexuality and Scriptural interpretation.

The conservative diocese joined those in Pittsburgh, San Joaquin, Calif., and Quincy, Ill., in approving such measures. The dioceses contend U.S. church leadership has wrongly abandoned Scriptural authority and traditional teachings on truth, salvation and the divinity of Jesus Christ.

A series of amendments relating to the split passed overwhelmingly, including an amendment that deleted reference to the authority of the Episcopal Church and replaced it with the Anglican Communion. That measure passed in votes of 69-14 by clergy and 95-28 by lay delegates.

The convention followed a testy exchange of letters between the national church's presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, and Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker.

Jefferts Schori warned Iker that he could face discipline if he continues to back proposals to separate from the U.S. church. Iker responded by accusing her of "aggressive, dictatorial posturing."

Jefferts Schori was attending a peace conference in South Korea and had no immediate comment, said Canon Robert Williams, a spokesman for the presiding bishop.

Speaking in a news conference after the convention, Iker said the decision showed firmed resolve about moving forward. He said he recognized that not everyone fully supported the decision, but that the debate was characterized by respect and honesty.

"It's important to note that the decisions made today are preliminary decisions that need to be ratified by another convention," he said.

The measures will be up for final approval at next year's convention.

George Komechak, a spokesman for Fort Worth Via Media, which opposes separation, said much of the convention was spent targeting Jefferts Schori and the national church.

"My reaction is the bishop has the diocese in a state where they are very intent on withdrawing from the national church," said Komechak, who attended as an observer. "They spent a good portion of the day attacking the national church - trying to discredit the national church and the presiding bishop."

The convention said the diocese wishes "to remain within the family of the Anglican Communion while dissociating itself from the moral, theological, and disciplinary innovations of the Episcopal Church."

The convention thanked the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone for offering to give the diocese membership, but took no action on the proposal. The province includes Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

A majority of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion hold traditional views that homosexuality is condemned by Scripture, while a majority in the Episcopal Church do not.

The division between conservatives and the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S., has sharpened since the denomination consecrated New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, in 2003.

The Fort Worth diocese includes about 56 congregations in north central Texas with about 20,000 members.

The Episcopalians are among several denominations struggling to agree on what the Bible says about gender and sexuality. Some Episcopal leaders in Texas, including Iker, object to the ordination of women, which the denomination approved in the 1970s.